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This year the Pasco Education Foundation is issuing $15,000 in Creative Teaching Grants to aid faculty in 32 schools.
By MICHELE MILLER
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 23, 2000
NEW PORT RICHEY -- Stefanie Francis was in her first year teaching art to youngsters at Richey Elementary School and had no problem coming up with an idea that she thought would help foster enjoyment for modern art.
By hosting a schoolwide Modern Art Day filled with a variety of artistic activities, all the students would have a chance to get into the artistic mode -- to think and act like a modern artist or simply appreciate the work of others. In makeshift galleries they could view great works or use sidewalk chalk on the school walkways to make giant flowers like Georgia O'Keeffe's, create their own crazy distorted animals in the style of surrealist artist Joan Miro, or don a smock and fling paint on a canvas, just like Jackson Pollack did.
The Modern Art Day, which was held last spring on the grounds of the school, was a big success, Francis said.
"It was a nice day for everyone," she said. "It was the next best thing to bringing the whole school to a museum. It really made art come alive for the day."
No doubt Francis' energy went a long way to providing an enhancing activity for all her students, as well as a break for teachers who were able to garner a little extra planning time.
But when it came to paying for the supplies -- sidewalk chalk, paintbrushes, paints, and clothespins to hang the young artists' works -- it was a $300 Creative Teaching Grant issued by the Pasco Education Foundation that picked up the bulk of the tab along with donations of supplies from some local businesses and individuals.
Francis said she was impressed with the work of the foundation.
"I was a first-year teacher and had a lot of energy to add to the (art) program," she said. "It was even more motivating to have the funds to be able to do something exciting for the students."
The Pasco Education Foundation helps to support a number of educational programs in Pasco County schools by distributing donations received by the foundation. There's the Take Stock in Children scholarship program that targets at-risk seventh-graders; the GTE Literacy Program, recognition events such as the Academic and Athletic Excellence Banquets; contests such as Tropicana 4-H, Geography Bee and Science Fair, as well as a variety of high school scholarships.
This year the Pasco Education Foundation is issuing $15,000 in Creative Teaching Grants, a $3,000 increase over last year, that will supplement enhancement programs in 32 schools.
Chip Wichmanowski, the foundation's executive director, said he has seen firsthand how well the program works.
"Back in the days when I was a principal, I know my teachers were ecstatic when they received a grant," he said. "It meant that the dollars weren't coming out of their own pockets to fund these projects and also, because the foundation is funded by donations from the community, it means business and community supported them, and that's a good feeling."
Sue Carrico, a math teacher at Bayonet Point Middle School, will use her $300 grant to provide materials for a student tutoring program that she's had up and running since the begining of the school year. The "Partners up the Hill" program matches students from Bayonet Point Middle with youngsters attending the adjacent Schrader Elementary School who could use a little extra help with math. The program has gone a long way in helping those youngsters, who seem to benefit from their relationship with a person closer to their own age. This is the second time Carrico has been the recipient of a Creative Teaching Grant. Two years ago the grant helped fund "Bridging the Gap," an outreach program involving students and a local nursing home.
The grants, said Carrico, help to provide incentive to create programs that might not otherwise be possible. Up until now, materials for the tutoring program -- poster board, pencils, art supplies, flash cards and protractors -- have come out of Carrico's pocket.
"I had an ongoing relationship with the dollar stores," she said. "I'd be in there spending $50 at a time. Fifty dollars might not seems like much, but it adds up.
"This $300 will go a long way."
For more information or to make donations to the Pasco Education Foundation Inc., call Chip Wichmanowski, executive director, at (813) 794-2705, (727) 774-2705, or (352) 524-2705.